Comcast is looking to accelerate its network expansion in 2023, aiming to ramp rollouts from the 840,000 new passings it achieved in 2022 to as many as 1 million this year. But where exactly will all those new connections be? It seems like the answer is all over the place.
Texas
Comcast outlined plans for a $100 million network expansion in Texas which will see it cover 80,000 new locations there this year. Work will initially focus on the areas of Kingwood, Pinehurst, Prairie View, Waller, New Caney and Conroe before later shifting to other parts of the Houston area. Kingwood alone will account for a large portion of construction, with the operator aiming to reach 24,000 locations there. It began construction in Kingwood earlier this week.
Pacific Northwest
The operator is looking to build to another 60,000 new locations across Washington and Oregon, as part of a $280 million network expansion and upgrade in the Pacific Northwest. Its work will include network rollouts in the rural towns of Eagle Creek, Estacada, Mt. Angel and Silverton, Oregon as well as Battleground, Chattaroy, Key Peninsula and Sumas, Washington.
Southeast
Since November 2022, Comcast has extended its network to nearly 1,000 locations in Colbert County, Alabama; 1,360 in Warren County, Georgia; and 2,150 in Hampton County, South Carolina. It previously said it expects to connect another 1,500 locations in Colbert County as part of a second expansion phase there.
The operator is looking expand to additional locations across Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee this year, but a representative declined to provide the number of passings it is targeting in each. However, the representative told Fierce the passings will be roughly 50% fiber and 50% hybrid fiber coaxial connections. The majority of the projects will be funded by Comcast, though there are also grant investments involved.
Earlier this year, Comcast won grants to connect nearly 3,000 locations in South Carolina, nearly 28,000 locations in Georgia and thousands in Florida. In the second half of 2022, it also won grants to cover locations in Anderson, Hamilton and Knox Counties in Tennessee as well as 1,100 locations in Louisiana. It is unclear, however, how many of these grant-fueled builds will be completed in 2023.
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
Comcast announced plans this week to extend its network to more than 7,200 locations in Allegheny and Blair Townships as well as Duncansville and Hollidaysburg in Blair County, Pennsylvania. Work is expected to be completed later this year.
Last month, it unveiled plans to extend its network to more than 2,600 locations in Plainfield, Connecticut. That project, as well as a previously announced build to 2,500 locations in Jewett City, are set to be completed in 2023.
In December, Comcast won a $7.5 million grant from the state of West Virginia to cover more than 2,100 unserved locations there. Work will cover parts of Brooke, Cabell, Hancock, Morgan, Ohio and Putnam counties and is set to be complete by the end of 2023. It seems it will also be expanding to a small number of locations in Preston County, West Virginia.
Elsewhere
In Colorado, Comcast is planning to spend $75 million to expand its network to more than 6,300 homes in the towns of Pueblo and Pueblo West. Work has already begun and the operator expects to start connecting customers there this fall.
Expansion work will also be happening in the Midwest. A project designed to reach more than 2,300 addresses in Wayzata, Minnesota got underway late last year and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. Elsewhere in the state, phase two of Comcast’s rural broadband buildout to more than 400 locations in Rogers is set to kick off this spring, as will a project to cover nearly 500 locations in Corcoran.
Comcast will also be pressing ahead with a previously announced project to cover more than 3,400 locations in Spring Hill, Kansas.
And finally, Comcast won $13.6 million in grants grant from the state of Indiana last year to reach more than 10,000 unserved locations across 19 counties. Contracts for those projects were signed in February and work is expected to be complete within two years.